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I met with Gil at DFJ's offices in London. I began my pitch and he quickly began asking about the customer acquisition costs vs profit. He said his experience with another company in a similar space as ours taught him that the customer acquisition costs would be the biggest problem we'd face. At the time if felt pretty negative meeting as he found some holes but within 24hrs of the meeting we'd changed our target customer and are now looking much healthier. We probably wont even need VC funding now and I'm grateful to Gil for his time, insight and no bullsh1t approach. If you want to hear how clever you are then by all means go ask your mum. If you want a VC's experienced view of your business, Gil's opinion is certainly as good as anyone else's and in our case his difficult questions led to some serious revisions to our business model.

Gave a pitch to Nic Brisbourne who seemed lethargic/distracted during the meeting. He wasn't very focused on our presentation so I assume he had other things on his mind. Later on, asked him some questions/feedback but he wasn't helpful. He said we're too early stage.

Scott is very friendly, genuine and helpful person and I think really tries to support entrepreneurs. He invited me in for a meeting and I pitched him. He said they are not doing seed deals right now, but he was kind enough to make a couple of intros. We've kept in touch and he is always genuinely interested to know how we are getting on.

Posted by
RobertRice
on 2008-07-25

PUBLIC:

I approached DFJ: Esprit informally to test the waters and gauge their interest on a new venture. They were quick to reply, very approachable and friendly, and gave me sincere feedback and comments on the concept and business model. Most VCs I have encountered over the years have been vague, will string you along, won't bother to read your stuff, and are very frustrating. My experience thus far with DFJ: Esprit, particularly with Nic Brisbourne, have been completely different and very refreshing.

Esprit ran a very quick process for our deal - which was USD $10million for them - so a significant chunk of change. It was 81 days (inclusive!) from the day I pitched at their offices to close - including 2 weeks for Christmas in the middle. They did extensive due diligence - bringing in outside folks to really dig under the covers and that was time consuming - but those folks have been very supportive to us in the market subsequently. Esprit were honest and fair but tough - great, I will take that all day long. It has been a good relationship and they are well respected and knowledgeable in the market.

Posted by
london1
on 2007-11-18

PUBLIC:

I have worked with DFJ Esprit (formerly Esprit Capital Partners) for some years now and have found them to be very helpful indeed. Simon Cook, the CEO, provides advice and input that is a lot more than the address book/phone call variety and has made a real difference.

DFJ Esprit suffers I think from a relatively unknown brandname and potentially a lack of clear focus. But they have a good story to tell. I would recommend them and would definitely look for funding there next time round.